As a result of the close-down of the UK by the British Government last night, we have made all the Buy/Sell areas read-only until we open back up again, so please have a look at the announcement linked here.

The Christmas break was quite productive for me. Here are the last 2 of my finishes:

Hobbyboss Bf109G-2

What can you say? Well, it's cheap, simple and makes a quick finish. Limited detail and probably not the most accurate, but a nice easy desert paint scheme.

Hobbyboss P-61

I would not describe this as an easy build. There's sufficient interior detail imho if you keep the lid on tho' the IP decal is a bit garish. Wheel wells are nice and the breakdown of parts is sensible, but the upper fuselage around the cockpit didn't match up well with the bottom and caused me fit issues; ditto with the boom / rear wing joints; ditto again with the glass work. Some careful filling was required here. Lost the will to weather it, lost one of the nose gear doors and haven't been brave enough to fit the aerials each side of the nose. My next one will be better!

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Great builds. I'm doing a run of Hobbyboss Me109s at the moment...they are probably not the most accurate but I can't tell and they do look like 109s when they're built. Love yours and the P61...was considering one of these too so thanks for the tips on the fit issues. Great job so round

I've done that Black Widow too and found similar problems with the fit.

Trying to fit the separate etched aerials drove me insane so in the end I replaced them with stretched sprue.

Hopefully Airfix will retool theirs one day.

Thanks, Ian.

Yes, it's a shame, as the P-61 is a good looking, if large, beast, and it deserves better.

NB there's enough space for nose weight, if you fill the radome, the small space in front of the IP, the backside of the engine bulkheads, and the space in front of the main gear bays with liquid gravity.

Great builds. I'm doing a run of Hobbyboss Me109s at the moment...they are probably not the most accurate but I can't tell and they do look like 109s when they're built. Love yours and the P61...was considering one of these too so thanks for the tips on the fit issues. Great job so round

Cheers!

Re the 109, I've got a high altitude G-10 in the cabinet and a couple more in the stash.

Re the P-61, remember to fill the holes outboard underwing if you're not going to fit the bazooka. Also, not sure the P-61 had 4 under wing pylons, so check references (I didn't bother). And it's been noted elsewhere, but the lips of the air inlets in the wing leading edge are far too thick and blunt. A bit of sanding sorts this out.

Finally, the trailing edge join halfway down the flap chord drove me mad trying to eradicate the step that resulted, and the grills at the lower front of the booms didn't survive. Replaced them with squares of masking tape.

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Looking at your P-61, one would never guess it gave you big problems. A very nice build. I'd certainly be proud to display in my collection ... and my finished products are best viewed a short distance away. .

Looking at your P-61, one would never guess it gave you big problems. A very nice build. I'd certainly be proud to display in my collection ... and my finished products are best viewed a short distance away. .

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NB there's enough space for nose weight, if you fill the radome, the small space in front of the IP, the backside of the engine bulkheads, and the space in front of the main gear bays with liquid gravity.

Thanks Martin, that's what I was afraid of but at least it saved having to ask you. In spite of the hassles it gave you, it has come up really well & I still want one.

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If you're talking Hobbyboss, make sure you buy the P-61B. It has the sideways bulge in the top decking between the cockpits appropriate to all Black Widows: the P-61A kit missed it. I think there's also a P-61C kit: can't comment on that one.

The real thing did. I don't know about the Hobbyboss kits because I don't have the P-61A and won't be getting one because of the fuselage spine error. But I think the parts breakdown suggested Hobbyboss had covered the difference. Can't recall whether Hobbyboss also catered for the differences in undercarriage doors but, if not, those are easy to fix yourself. (Alas, I am marooned 200 miles away from all my models - while you lot indulge in veritable orgies of model-building.)

If building one with a dorsal barbette, NB that the guns moved together in one block: they did not elevate in individual slots as Hobbyboss show. If you don't fancy fixing that yourself, Quickboost do correction parts, one with and one without flash hiders. Here's one of them:

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/QB72082?result-token=lMPMu

(The gun barrels with flash hiders are also useful for Lincoln or, I suppose, Lancaster twin 0.50" tail turrets.)